Formula for Disaster? Movies Downloaded From The Net
Posted by Ramon G. McLeod | Monday, April 03, 2006 3:13 PM PT
The idea that consumers will download feature-length movies from the Internet is an old, bad idea, that takes another twist today.
While there have been services that have tried to trying to entice consumers to rent downloaded movies for quite some time, the public just hasn't gone for it. There are just too many other options that are more convenient.
So now,
according the New York Times, six studios will make 300 movies available for sale today through
Movielink . Other services are soon to follow.
What's the catch? Well, for one, the downloadable movies are more expensive than films you can buy at a DVD shop. There's the usual issue of download time for a gigabyte (or more) of data. And then there's the compatibility problem.
For example, in the Movielink system, the download can be copied to a DVD and you can keep it, but the DVD cannot be played on a conventional DVD player, according to the Times. So how do I watch it on my TV?
Simple (not) you connect video and audio cables from your PC to your TV. Nice cable runs on the floor. My wife would just love that. Or you use a Media Center PC, if you have one. There are plenty of other issues cited in the story, which is well worth a read.
Given the current state of technology, I don't see this new approach working for many of the same reasons downloaded rentals haven't worked. It's simply too easy to acquire a movie through services like Comcast's On-Demand Service, Netflix, and the good old corner vid store that are more convenient and less expensive.
And there's one other thing that has nothing to do with these services: How anxious are you to own ANY of the movies that got Academy Awards this year? Think you can bear to wait a couple of months to see "Goodnight and Good Luck" on you premium cable movie channel? Just askin'.
But maybe I'm missing something. What do you think?
As a former 5-year Blockbuster store manager and one of the earliest subscribers to Netflix, I have to say "no way" to this latest attempt at my home movie enjoying dollars. When I want to OWN a movie, I want it all, including credits, cover art, etc., and a product I can hold in my hand, sell when I'm tired of it, or give to my grandchildren.
It's all part of the slow painful growth into media convergence. When the gaming systems have a few terabites of memory and the studios work out the royalty and licensing issues so that the retail price is fair- then there will be a market. There will be a market- itunes showed how to do it.
I can see the appeal. We are running out of storage room for the bulky, environmentally unfriendly DVD containers. At the same time I'm buying huge hard drives and downloading all my TV from iTunes. My next step probably to import the DVDs and toss them, or at least put them portable cases, so it would be more convenient to just download movies and skip the packaging and the impossible to open plastic wrap that is sealed as though the DVD contains chemical weapons.
I would like to download movies, but only if they are cheaper than the actual DVD and case. There is no reason that they should be more expensive. Also... if they would use Divx format it would be smaller to download but would still be decent quality. Then if you really like it you would be more inclined to purchase the actual DVD. I say make the downloads cheap, but of lesser quality. I believe it would cause people to download them that might not normally do so.
It seems rather idiotic to price virtual movies higher than DVDs. What's the incentive there? This is clearly a weak attempt at fighting the movie piracy sector that we are bombarded with advertising about, but it is doomed to fail unless the entertainment industry is not willing to modernize a bit.
seems like i'll still stick to torrents if there ain't viable options
The article is not about an "old, and bad, idea", but about "an old, and good idea, and a new, and bad, implementation of it".
I dream of the day when I can download movies legally at a reasonable price, and watch them on my TV...
We can debate about the pricing, the ramifications of DRM restrictions, and various other aspects of the business model chosen, but to call this notion "an old, bad idea" sounds positively Luddite, particularly in view of how these services represent the industry's desparate attempts to respond to rampant underground movie sharing. Recipe for disaster? More like a recipe for survival.
Most people I know love Netflix. I have a dedicated computer for my home entertainment system hooked up to a projector. It's a clean installation and it only took me a couple hours to hook everything up. I have all my movies and music on the hard drive and I love it. It's easier that way. Personally, I hate media in disc form. And yes, you CAN watch downloaded movies burned to disc with a DVD player if you know what you're doing. There's free software for that. I don't know how old you are, Ramon, but the younger generation would most likely disagree with this entire article. Times are a-changin'...
Why is downloading movies a bad idea?! People have been doing it for years illegally. It's just suffering from bad implementation for the legal downloads.
Hollywood should take a page from the pirates. Use things like torrents and what not and let the consumer *gasp* do what they want with what they have purchased. Make it enticing, people will buy it. Insult them with what has been going on, they'll just steal it like they always have.
Downloadable content is the future. I can see one day in the future where going to a store and buying a disc would just be downright redundant. I'll be able to download a movie and stream it to whatever TV I want in my house.
It is a very good idea. Obviously so, or why would there be so many pirates out there?
Hmmm, I guess you don't own an ipod Video!!!! The only problem is for people who live in areas with no broadband, like me. Over a satellite dish, it takes hours to download an episode of Battlestar Galactica from iTunes. Worth it none the less. This might actually an opportunity for video stores to get back on their feet in remote rural areas with no DSL: pay $500/month for a T1 and download movies on request for your customers.
I am sitting here in a rented resort condo in the WV Hills. The resort failed to tell me there was no TV, No Internet Access, No Telephone and not much in the way of furniture. All for about $150 a day.
Finally, I resident neighbor let me use his Wireless, network connection, since my expensive Verizon wireless cannot find a Verizon digital signal in these hills of WV!
Now, I am out of my mind with the lack of audio and visual stimulation that I am used to in the flatlands. I am looking at downloading some movies because live TV on the laptop was no good. There are some rentals, that might work if they are really only 2.99 per day.
I hope you know that Porn Web sites are doing a booming business in rental and purchased movies. They are way ahead of Hollywood (or maybe they really are Hollywood?)
Well, that would be my last resort as the acting and plot leave so much to the imagination, even if the video does not. :-)